Introduction to ArcMap

8/8/2019 Introduction to ArcMap

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Introduction to ArcMap



Table of Contents



IntroductionTopicsWhat is ArcMap, open an existing map, explore a Map Document,data and layout view, Arctoolbox, select features, symbolize data,createdata and getting help.

Introduction

You will explore ArcMap to understand how it is used in the ArcGISenvironment, and you will practise its basic functions.

Why use ArcMap?

ArcMap is ArcGIS’s desktop application for all map-based tasks, like dataand map analysis, editing and production of maps. In ArcMap, a user candisplay data, make selections, analyse data, manipulate data, create data,

assign symbols and produce maps. ArcMap also serves as gateway to anumber of software extensions that perform specific tasks and analyses(extensions will be discussed later in the course).

How to learn ArcMap?

Since ArcMap is used to perform most of the GIS operations, it requiresmore than one exercise to be understood! But you do not have to master allthe functions and processes available for the first results. The purpose of this exercise is to guide your first steps through the basic functionalities of ArcMap, and to show you how you can create a map document, change therepresentation of a map and explore map data.

Most of the remaining exercises will introduce additional features of ArcMap.But even then, the course will have covered only a portion of all functionsavailable. To learn more about ArcMap, you can use the ArcMap OnlineHelp System. It is available at any time, and directly accessible via the ArcMapuser interface (see chapter 2.4).

2.2 ArcMap basics

2.2.1 ArcMap Documents:

Start ArcMap and open an existing map document

• From the task bar, select All Programs, ArcGis, ArcMap.

• Start ArcMap with an existing map.

• Browse for maps and open “india.mxd” , to be found on your personal drive in the folder “Exercise2”



What is a Map Document?

• A Map Document stores a representation (map, graph, table) and thereferences to the location of the geodata sources displayed.

• When you open a Map Document in ArcMap, it will find the associatedgeodata sets by following the links that are stored in the document,and display the data using the symbolic representation defined in theMap Document itself.

• When you save a Map Document, ArcMap will create a link to all thegeodata displayed, and will save the current representation of thedata.

The Map Window

The large window that currently displays the simplified map of the province of

Overijssel is called the Map Window (Fig. 2.1). Any geographic representationof your data will be displayed in the Map Window . You can change its size byclicking and dragging the border between the Table of Contents (see nextsection) and the Map Window .

The Table of Contents

The smaller window on the left side is the Table of Contents (Fig. 2.1). It

Fig. 2.1: The opened mapDocument in ArcMap

Table of Contents

Map Wi



shows:

• The geodata sets that loaded in your Map Document. In the Table of Contents, data are organised in layers. Generally, layers represent aparticular type of data, such as lakes, districts, roads etc. The checkbox next to each layer indicates whether or not a layer is representedin the map. If the box is checked, the layer is visible; if un-checked,

the layer is hidden.

• The legend used to display the features of a layer in the map.You canchange the size of the Table of Contents window by clicking anddragging the border between the Table of Contents and the Map

Window .

Toolbars and Menus

Toolbars and Menus give organised access to functions, commands andtools that include all the actions related to specific tasks. The first time thatyou open ArcMap, it displays the Main Menu, the Standard toolbar , and afloating window with the Tools toolbar .

! You can arrange the way toolbars are displayed in ArcMap: let them “float” as

independent small windows, or anchor them to ArcMap’s main window.

Anchor the Tools toolbars to the main windows:

• Point to the Title Bar of the Tools floating window

•

• Click and hold the left mouse button, and drag the window to theupper edge of the main window of ArcMap

•

ArcMap has more toolbars than the ones that are displayed by default (like

ArcCatalog); and each toolbar can be made visible, if you wish, via the menuView / Toolbars or via the Customize… dialog box under the Tools menu: acheck mark next to the toolbar name indicates that it is visible.

Show the toolbars needed for this exercise:

• In the main menu click: View and point to Toolbars

• In the list of toolbars, check or uncheck the checkbox next to aname and observe what happens to the toolbar.

• Finally, make sure that the toolbars “Main Menu”, “Standard”,“Tools” and “Layout” are checked.

2.2.2 Changing the view on the area displayed

There are various ways to change to view on the area displayed in the MapWindow. For instance, you can zoom, pan, or display the map at a specificscale:



Zoom in or out

• Locate and click the Zoom Out button on the Tools toolbar

•

Move the mouse pointer over the map and click once. The map willbe redisplayed at a smaller scale centred around the point whereyou clicked.

• Now select the Zoom In button in the Tools toolbar

• Move the mouse pointer over the map and click once to zoom-inaround a selected point.

• You can also click and drag a rectangle to define the area youwant to zoom to. Try this other method also.

• The scroll wheel of the mouse can also be used for zooming.Panning

• Click the Pan button on the Tools toolbar

• Move the mouse pointer over the map; click and drag the pointer

to move the map

Zoom to the full extent of the data

• Click the Full Extent button in the Tools toolbar.

•

The map zooms to the full extent; the whole maps area will be displayed.

Move to the previous display

The Back Extent button allows you to move back to your previouszoom settings. You can move forward again using the Forward Extend

button

Zoom to a specific map scale

• In the Standard toolbar, the Map Scale toolallows you to specify the scale of the map on the screen. Typethe desired scale in the text box (in this case type: 1:100000) andthen press Enter.

• Display the map at some other scales.

• If finished, zoom to Full Extent. Notice that the value in the MapScale tool also changes.

2.2.3 Data view and layout view

There are two ways to view a map: in Data view and in Layout view .



Data view is used to display, explore, select and analyse data. You willuse this view most of the time to analyse or model your data in ArcMap. Layout view is used to prepare the final layout of a map for disseminationor printing. The size of the page can be specified in the page set-up.You can add all the items that complete your map (like title, legend, text,scale bars, north arrow etc.), colour the background and move the items

around to design a balanced layout.

Switching from Data view to Layout view:

Select the Layout View option from the View menu

Alternatively, click the Layout View in the toolbar at the bottomof the Map window.

Note that you can always switch back to Data View, using theData View option.

In the Layout View, the orientation of the page is by default ‘Portrait’. Youcanchange the orientation as well as other characteristics of the page.

• Open the File menu, click Page and Print Setup…

• In the popup window, click on the checkbox ‘Use Printer Paper Settings’ to ensure that what you see on the screen matcheswhat you will see if you print the map.

• Click on the radio button Landscape in the Paper characteristicsarea.

• Click on OK . The orientation of the page in the layout view willchange to landscape.

! Although the page has switched to landscape, you still have a “portrait”box around your map. The box represents the Data Frame, the area of your sheet that is reserved to display map elements. You can select the DataFrame box, resize it and move it anywhere you like on the page. Remember that the Layout View displays your map exactly how it would appear on paper when printed. If you resize and/or move the Data Frame, leave enoughspace on the page for elements like the title, legend, scalebar, northarrow,etc).

Switch back to Data View

• Open the View menu and click Data View (or click on the DataViewbutton in the toolbar at the bottom of the Map Window).

2.2.4 The Table of Contents

The Table of Contents provides information on the content of your map andthe symbols used to represent it. The Table of Contents also enables you tochange content and representation of your map. You have seen that the



data is organized in layers: the current map has 6 layers: villages, roads, major cities, lakes, land, municipalities.

Managing layer properties and characteristicsWhen you right-click on the name of a layer, a popup menu shows the options

available to manage individual layers.

• Right-click on the name of the Lakes layer to show the variousoptions.

Most of the options that you see will be introduced later in the course.Layers are drawn on top of each other. The sequence is defined by the orderof layers in the Table of Contents: starting from the layer at the bottom andending with the layer at the top. Layers that are drawn later may hide featuresof previously drawn layers. It may be necessary to re-arrange the sequenceof layers to see all the features that you want in your map.

Change the order of layer display

• In the Table of Contents, click and hold on the name of thelayerLand and drag it to the top position of the table of contents.

The Land layer now hides all other layers, because it is now drawn on top of the others.

• Drag the Land layer to its original position between Lakes andMunicipalities.

! To display all the layers of a data set effectively, use the following order

(from top to bottom): points, lines, areas.Turn on/off the visualization of a layer

• In the table of content, click in the box next to a layer’s name touncheck it.

The data is still available, but not shown in the display.

• Click the checkbox to switch the visualization of the layer backon.

• Switch off the visualization of the Land layer and make sure thatthe visualization of the Municipalities layer is switched on.

You see that the Municipalities layer was hidden by the Land layer.

2.2.5 Explore the data in your map

The data cannot always be explored simply by looking at a map. If you need

information about specific features, examine the attributes of a layer.

Identify features

• Click the Identify button on the Tools toolbar

• In the map window, click on a feature (e.g. the lake) to viewinformation about it.

By default, the Identify Results window displays the information derived from



the attribute table of the top layer in the map. If you click on a road in thelake, you will get information about the road, not about the lake, because theRoad layer is placed on top of the Lakes layer.

• In the Identify Results window, you can change the layer to getinformation from by clicking the Layers dropdown arrow and se

lecting: Visible layers to get information of all visible layers, orselect a specific layer to get information from. Try this.

• After identifying features, close the Identify window.

View all the attributes of the data in a layer

• In the table of contents, right-click on Major Cities to show theOptions menu and click Open Attribute Table. The attribute tableopens, 18 records are listed. Attributes of the records are: aunique FID (feature identification) number, geometry (polygon,line or point), ID number, and the name of each record (name of major city).

• Close the attribute table and open attribute tables of some otherlayers to see their attributes.

View the properties of a layer

• In the table of contents, double-click on the name of a layer orright-click on the layer’s name and click Properties. The layerproperties window will be opened.

• In this dialog window you can set a number of properties for theselected layer. Many of these options will be discussed later in

the course. Here, only check the information in each of the tabsat the top of the dialog window.

• When finished, press the Cancel button.

View the properties of the data frame.

A data frame in ArcMap contains one or more layers; it defines the geographicextent, coordinate system and other display properties of the layersin Arc Map. You can see the name of a data frame displayed at the top in thetable of contents. By default, when a map is created, the data frame is called“Layers”, but it can be changed.

Data is represented in at least one data frame, or in more than one dataframe; you can add data frames to a map, each containing its own set of layers. In the Data View , you can only display one data frame at the time. Inthe Layout view , however, you can place different data frames at different

positions next to each other on a page.

• In the table of contents, right-click on the name of the Dataframe: Layers and select Properties, or double-click on the name(layers).

•

• Click the “General” tab: You see that the name of the data frameis called “Layers”. Change this name into “Base map of Overijssel”



• Notice that the map units and display units for this map are Meters.

• Click other tabs to see different kinds of properties. Whenfinished,click OK to close the data frame properties window. In thetable of contents you see that the name of the data frame has been

changed to “Base map of india_st"

Interactive selection

• In the main menu, click Selection , then Set Selectable Layers…

• In the dialog window that opens, switch off all the layers exceptthe Major cities layer. Then close the dialog window.

• Click the Select Features tool.

• Click on the feature that you want to select in the map. Noticethat you can only select from Major cities. A feature’s outline

turns to light blue when it is selected.

• Try to select another feature. If you click on another Major city,this last one will be selected (highlighted with a light blue outline),the previously selected feature will revert to non-selectedstate. If you click at a location where no features are present, thepreviously selected feature will be deselected, and no featureswill be highlighted anymore.

• If you want to add features to your selection, hold down theShift key of your keyboard while clicking on several features.

• Try to select some features in other layers by changing the

selectable layer, then make selections.

Interactive selection of records in an attribute table

• In the table of contents, right-click the layer Major cities andclick Open Attribute table.

• Select a feature in the table by clicking in the grey box left of arecord. As you can see the selection is highlighted, both in thetable and in the map.

• To select additional features, hold down the Ctrl key of yourkeyboard and click left of records in the attribute table.

• If you want to deselect one of the selected features, click on itsrecord while holding the Ctrl key pressed.

Deselecting features

• To deselect all features at once from all layers that have an activeselection, you can use the Clear Selected Features option in



the Selection menu.

Selecting features by searching them with an expression.

• From the main menu, point to Selections and click Select byattributes. Click the layer dropdown arrow to select the layer Major

cities

• Click the method drop down arrow and click Create a new selection.

• Double-click the field: “Place_Name”, then, click the = sign, after that,click the “get unique values” button and then, double-click aname in the Unique values list.

• Click apply

• The selected city will be shown in the map and the attribute table.

• Close the Select by attributes window, close the attribute tableandde-select the selected feature.

2.2.6 ArcToolbox



ArcToolbox is an integrated part of ArcMap and ArcCatalog. You can openthe toolboxes like you open a menu. Toolboxes help you to run all kinds of operations on your data, as you will see in this exercise. The functionality of toolboxes goes beyond the functionality of menus, toolboxes:

• give you access to all operations that you can perform in ArcGIS

• enable you to add by yourself

Open the toolboxes

• In your main toolbar, click on the Show/Hide ArcToolbox Window

button.

! You can open the toolboxes in ArcCatalog in a similar way

You will see that ArcToolbox contains several toolboxes, for example: ‘3DAnalyst Tools’, ‘Data Management tools’ etc.When you open the ‘Data Management Tools’ toolbox, you will see that itcontains many different toolsets that can be further opened to see the toolsthat are available to you.

• Click on the + sign in front of ‘Data Management tools’ to open

Fig 2.3: ArcMap withtoolboxesvisible.



the toolbox. You now see the toolsets available in this toolbox

• Click on the + sign in front of the ‘Fields’ toolset to see the tools

Using a tool

To use a tool, double click it (or right click on the tool to open the contextmenu, then select open). A dialog window will open, where you can enter allnecessary information to run the tool.

Test this by running the ‘create personal geodatabase’ tool.

• Go to the ‘Data Management tools’ and open this toolbox.

• Open the ‘Workspace’ toolset

• Double click the ‘Create Personal GDB’ tool to create an Accessdatabase.

• Select an output location on your local drive. Use the brows button,

or type the location. Enter a name for you new Geodatabase forexample “ToolGDB”

• Click OK

• A progress window appears. Wait until your geodatabase creationis completed, then close the progress dialog.

• Check in ArcCatalog if your new Geodatabase has been created.

Finding tools

ArcToolbox contains hundreds of different tools; the exact number dependson your licence (ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo) and extensions (Spatial Analyst,3D analyst etc.). The large number makes it difficult to find a specifictool, but some support is offered. The toolbox window contains three tabs(Fig. 2.4): favourites, index and search.

• The ‘Favorites’ tab contains all the tools that are available to you.

• The ‘index’ tab allows you to see the tools in alphabetical order and tofind tools.

• The “Search” tab has even more search possibilities. It allows you totype in a keyword or a partial name.





2.3 Create a new map documentfrom existing data

Data that you can display in a map may come in a variety of formats: vector,raster or tabular data. If the format is supported by ArcMap, you can add the

data as a layer to ArcMap. If the format is not supported, you have to convertthe data to a format that is supported by ArcMap, e.g. by using the dataconversion utilities in ArcToolbox, or other data conversion programs. Dataconversion,however, is beyond the scope of these introductory exercises.

2.3.1 Start ArcMap and create a new map

Start ArcMap, create a new map and add data to the map:

• Start ArcMap.

• In the Start window, select a new empty map

• Click the Add Data button on the standard toolbar In the “Adddata” window, navigate to the Exercise folder onyour local drive.

• Click the layer: Land and click Add. The layer will be added to yourmap.

Fig. 2.5: Warningdisplayedif you add alayer to a map for which no projection isdefined



• If you add a data layer to a map that has no projection information,a warning (see above) will be displayed and the layer cannot beprojected. You can dismiss the warning by clicking OK here.Projections will be treated in a later exercise.

• Add more layers: click the Add Data button, navigate to the samefolder. Press and hold down the Control button on your keyboardwhile you click the layers: Lakes.shp; major cities.shp; roads.shp;municipalities.shp and villages.shp.

• Click Add to add the selected layers to your map.

! If ArcCatalog is opened, you also can add data by dragging the data layer

from ArcCatalog to the map display window of ArcMapRemoving a data layer from your map:

• Right-click the layer municipalities and click Remove. The layerwillbe removed from your map.

Change the display order of the layers:

Perhaps some layers hide information of other layers.

• Change the display order of one ore more layers in the table of contents until they are all in a correct position. Click the layer thatyou want to move, keep the mouse button down and drag the layerto a new position.

• Save the map with a new name on your personal drive.

2.3.2 Data symbolization

Drawing a layer using a single symbol:

• In the table of contents, double-click the layer villages

• In the Layer properties window, click the symbology tab

• Click Features – Single symbol

• Click the big symbol button to change the symbol characteristics.

• In the symbol selector box, select a symbol from the big window toshow the villages. You can also change some properties of thesymbol, like colour and size. Try some possibilities.



• After you created your symbol, click Apply. The symbols of thevillages in the table of contents and in the map are changedaccording your specifications.

• To close the layer properties box, click OK.

• Repeat this process for all the other layers.

The option ‘single symbol’ displays all features is a map with the same symbol.E.g. if a single symbol is used for roads, the difference between highwaysand main roads will not be visible in the map. These unique values canbe symbolized separately. Unique values of records in a layer can be foundin the layer’s attribute table.

Drawing a layer showing unique values of records in a specific layer:

• In the Value Field drop-down box, select the field “Layer”

•

• Click on Add All Values. You will see a list of the road classesand a color representation of each type of road.

. 2.6: The Symbology b of the Layer propertiesndow is used to defineque symbols.



• Switch off the checkbox next to “all other values”, because thereare no other values.

•

• Double-click the line symbol of the two road types and change thecolor and/or symbolization of each road class.

• Click OK when finished, the roads are now shown differently.

• Save the map: File- Save

2.3.3 Label features

Labeling is the process of placing a descriptive text string next to one ormore features on your map.

Label the major cities with their names:

• Double- click the name of the layer “india_st” to open theproperties window and select the tab “Labels”

• Switch on: Label features in this layer.

• Method: Label all features in the same way. Label field: select theattribute field that you can use for the names of the cities. Select“Name”

• Click OK. The labels of the city names will appear in your map.

! To change the default text styles, return to the properties of the

major_citieslayer, Label tab. Click the “symbol” button and select a different text style.

2.3.4 Create a map page in layout view

• Define the page set up: File, Page and print set up. From the Pagesize, select a landscape orientation

• Switch to layout view: View, Layout view

• In the layout view, resize / move the data frame (the box aroundthe map) so that the map fits onto the page.

• In the main window, click Insert Title. Click and type a map title inthe Title box that will appear in your layout. (e.g: Map of india).



Then press the Enter key on your keyboard. Next, click the titleand drag it to an appropriate position on your map.

• Add a north arrow: Click Insert, North Arrow. Select an arrowand drag it to an appropriate position.

• Switch back to Data View .

• Save the map.

To learn more about the Symbolization, refer to the Help menu: Helpcontents, ArcMap, Symbolizing your data.

To learn more about map creation, refer to the Help menu: Help contents,ArcMap, Creating Maps.

2.4 Getting Help

ArcMap provides several ways to help you figure out how to best takeadvantage of the many functions available.

Use the brief descriptions of buttons and menu optionsWhen you keep the mouse pointer (without clicking) on a button or a menuoption, a brief description of the functions performed by the button or optionis displayed in the status bar of the ArcMap window.

• Open a menu and keep the mouse pointer on various options. Abrief description is displayed in the lower left corner of the ArcMapwindow.

• Move the mouse pointer over the buttons in the toolbars. Again, theStatus bar displays a brief description.

• Notice that there is also a tooltip displayed in a popup window if youkeep the pointer on a button. It displays the button name.

Use “What’s this?” help. The “What’s this?” button provides a quickway to access basic information about buttons, commands, and menu options.

• Click the “What’s this?” button in the Standard toolbar



• Then, click on any button / menu item in the ArcMap programwindow. A popup window will provide a basic explanation of whatthe tool does.

• Click anywhere in the ArcMap window to close the popup window.

Use Help menu topics

For a more in depth understanding of the commands and principles behindArcMap (and more in general, all GIS packages), access one of the manyresources available in the Help menu. The ArcGIS Desktop Help option allowsyou to consult the help files.

• Click the Help menu and click ArcGis Desktop Help

• The Contents tab will show the help information, organised inchapters

• The Index tab shows the help topics by key word. In the textbox atthe top of the frame you can type a keyword of the subject you are

interested in• The Search allows you to perform free text searches in the help

documentation. In the textbox at the top of the frame you can typethe words or sentence you are interested in.

Directly from the Help menu, you can access a number of web sites which mayhelp you understand the basics of GIS and of ArcMap.

2.5 ChallengesChallenge 1:

Try to discover more about ArcMap (as much as you can) using the abovelisted methods to get Online Help.

Challenge 2:Create your own data

Create new data files and display the data in ArcMap. You can create newshape files. Other data formats that can be created are feature classes in aPersonal Geodatabases (These data formats will be treated in a later exercise).You can add the contents of the created data files to ArcMap.

Create new shape files

• Close ArcMap and start ArcCatalog from Windows’ Start taskbar.

• In ArcCatalog, select the folder on your local drive to which youwant to add the new data files. (Exercise02)

• Then, from the main menu, click File, New, Shapefile.

• Change the name of the new shapefile into Points, and selectFeature Type: Point. Click the OK button



• Repeat the action of creating a new shapefile to create a shapefilenamed: Lines, feature type: Polyline.

• Repeat the action of creating a new shapefile to create a shapefilenamed: Polygons, feature type: Polygon.

• Quit ArcCatalog.

Add the shape files to your map:

• Start ArcMap and select a new empty map, or, if ArcMap is stillrunning, select: File, New, from the main menu and select a newblank map document.

• Make sure that the current view is Data view

• Click the Add layers button

• In the Add Data window, browse to your folder where the newlycreated files are located and Add the three shape files to your map.

•

You see the three shape files in the table of contents without data.Draw polygons in the Polygon shape file:To create or modify data in ArcMap,you have to switch on the Editor:

• Click: View – Toolbars and checkmark the Editor toolbar.

• From the editor toolbar, click Editor, Start Editing.

• Select a task from the Task dropdown arrow: Create New Feature

• Select the target layer in which to create the new features:Polygons.

• Click the Sketch Tool button

• Move the mouse pointer to the map area and click to start drawingthe polygon. Move the mouse pointer to the next corner of yourpolygon and click. Continue to create the corners of the polygon.

• To finish the polygon, you have to double-click.

• Make a few more polygons.

• After making the polygons, you have to save them in the Polygonsfile: Click Editor, Save Edits.

! You saved the data in the Polygons shape file, which is located on your Personal drive. This data file can be added (linked) to any map in ArcMap.Create some lines in the Lines shape file:

• In the editor, select a task from the Task dropdown arrow: CreateNew Feature

• Select the target layer in which to create the new features: Lines

Click the Sketch button



• Move the mouse pointer to the map area and click to start drawingthe line. Move the mouse pointer to next vertex of your line andclick. To finish the line, you have to double-click.

• Make a few more lines.

• After making the lines, you have to save them in the Lines file:

Click Editor, Save Edits

Create some points in the Points shape file:

• Select a task from the Task dropdown arrow: Create New Feature

• Select the target layer in which to create the new features:Points

• Click the Sketch button

• Move the mouse pointer to the map area and click to place a point.

• Make a few more points.

• After making the points, you have to save them in the Points file:Click Editor, Save Edits

Stop the editing session:

• To stop adding features, you have to switch off the editor: Editor,Stop Editing.

In practice, new data will be created in ArcMap by digitizing paper maps witha digitizing tablet, or “on screen” to trace the features from a geo-referencedaerial photograph or raster image of a map.It is possible to add new fields to the attribute tables and fill in the records foreach field to add attributes for each feature.

• To see the attributes of the data files: In the table of contents,right-click on the layer’s name and click Open Attribute Table.

• As you can see, there are only a few basic attributes, which werecreated automatically for each single feature.

• Save the map document on your personal drive

2.6 Summary

In this exercise you have learned the basics of ArcMap: how to start theapplication and open a Map Document, how to move around the map andexplore your data, how to define basic symbology for your map. At the end,youhave learned where to find additional help, if required. In the challenges you

can learn more about ArcGis Help functions and how to create data files.Remember that the goal of this exercise is to get you started and not tocover all the functionalities and tools of ArcMap.